A Highborn/Noble can fill many roles on the battlefield since he has a fantastic statline, some great wargear and a rock solid leadership. Whether you want a 1 hit pony Assassin, Unit Support, High Damage Dealer or Tank the Highborn/Noble will be able to fill these roles pretty well.
Assassin
Wood Elves can suffer greatly if exposed to Monsters, Wizards and Warmachines luckily for us we have some really powerful character builds that help tip the balance in our favor and put us down the road to victory. The idea behind an Assassin is to hit a key target and kill it in the first round of combat because chances are you will only get one shot and if you mess up your dead. Due to the risk involved in running such characters Highborns are rarely used, and the cheaper Nobles tend to make up the Assassin builds ranks. To succeed as an Assassin you need both hitting power and mobility. The key to mobility is to either be Altered or ride a Great Eagle, here are some ideas:
Alter Assassins
*Remember Alter Kindred gives you +1 attack, M9 and I9
Noble
Alter Kindred
Helm of the Hunt
Rageths Wildfire Blades
Potion of Strength/Potion of Foolhardiness
This guy packs a mighty punch and is one hell of a monster slayer. If you take the Potion of Strength (slightly more expensive) you are coming in with 6 S7 Flaming Attacks. This is brutal against just about anything but especially against Wizards and Monsters. Since you are negating regeneration you will really pile on the hurt when fighting things like Trolls, Hell Pits, Hydras or regenerating characters, you are also very effective at taking out Flammable units such as Tomb Kings/Princes and Treemen. If you take the Potion of Foolhardiness you get 7 S4 Flaming Attacks however you are also immune to psychology when you charge which means the bigger monsters which would cause terror wont effect you so whilst you sacrifice raw hitting power you gain extra attacks and don't run the risk of crapping your pants when you come to charge!
Highborn
Alter Highborn
Sword of Bloodshed
Helm of the Hunt
Potion of Strength
This guy comes in with 9 Strength 7 attacks...he is devastating when he first gets into combat and should be able to take out just about any character he comes across. Not quite as effective as the ragfire combo against monsters but when it comes to slaughtering characters this guy is your man in most cases.
Noble
Alter Kindred
Spirit Sword
This guy is VERY risky. When he works he works very well, when he doesn't...well...you really doesn't. His sword lets him instant kill just about anything in the game...however it has a chance of instantly killing you if it doesnt work right. None the less you have 4 S4 attacks and you have the potential to kill anything...
Highborn
Alter Kindred
Spirit Sword
Amber Pendant
Potion of Foolhardiness
A much more expensive version of the noble but also a bit more powerful. Your sword obviously is the same but with a higher leadership it is going to be killing your foe more often than yourself. Your potion gives you an extra attack (so 6 over all) and your pendant makes it so all enemies in base contact strike last...very good when your trying to assassinate high elves! He is more expensive, more reliable but oddly more risky at the same time.
Eagle Assassins
* Remember that an eagle grants you +1 wound and +2 S4 attacks and a S4 Stomp attack on infantry
Eagle assassins are a little different from you alter assassins. Alters generally go after characters or monsters and take them out whilst the eagle is much more suited for tackling warmachines thanks you increased movement.
Noble
Great Eagle
Hail of Doom Arrow
Light Armour
Shield
Spear
This is a pretty bare bones eagle assassin, and that's all your really need. Your eagle gives you some extra combat punch so buying extravagant weapons is overkill in most cases so paying for some cheap armour to give you some defense is preferable and having the HoDA you have some something to do turn one.
As you might expect alter kindred builds work very well with eagle builds but be warned an eagle is a much more attractive target and does not have the staying power to take a cannon ball or a few arrows...be warned!
Damage Dealers
Damage dealers excel at...you guessed it...DEALING DAMAGE! Similar to the assassin, but instead of being a 1 trick pony you want him to deal consistent damage over the course of the game as opposed to insane damage then death.
Ranged Death Dealers
These guys basically wreak havoc from a range.
Noble
Asyendi's Bane
Hail of Doom Arrow
Re-rolling his misses with standard shots his trump card is his explosive 3D6 S4 arrows he gets to unleash once per game...granted his bow doesn't work when you fire the arrows he is still doing some damage...or at least has the potential to do some damage to the lightly armored troops.
Highborn
Alter Kindred (optional)
Bow of Loren
Arcane Bodkins
Briarsheath (if Alter)
This guy is THE bane of all things heavily armored. Packing 4-5 (depending on altered or not) armor ignoring shots a turn...he can potentially take down a unit of knights single handed which is fantastic considering we dont have much that can do that reliably. Briarsheath is only useful if you are altered because it makes it harder for enemies to shoot at you...always a positive!
Highborn
Alter Kindred (optional)
Bow of Loren
Starfire Arrows
Briarsheath (if Alter)
This is almost identical to the build before however it serves a different purpose! Spamming panic. Whilst not as effective overall as other builds it can be very detrimental to some armies (Goblin Hordes for example) as every wound you inflict on a unit results in a PANIC CHECK!!!! So if your foe is out of range of a BSB and/or general there is a chance he could flee the moment you set your eyes on him... isn't that just grand?
Combat Death Dealers
Kill things up close and personal...
Noble
Sword of Might
Helm of the Hunt
Potion of Foolhardiness
Light Armour
Shield
Sort of like an assassin but not quite. 5 S5 attacks on the charge gives you a nice little kick to your combat offensive. Cheap and effective at dealing damage and supporting your units in the thick of combat. Whats not to like?
Highborn
Forest Dragon
Stone of Crystal Mere
The Dawn Spear
Armour of Fortune
Shield
This guy is a bit of a beast. He has a 3+ Armour Save, 3++ ward save for him and his dragon until it is failed once, and then a 5++ ward save for himself and if he wounds a unit, everyone in the unit is at -1 to hit ANY unit for a turn. Add to this the dragons attacks, breathe weapon and thunderstomp and you have some serious damage potential. Just makes sure he is supported by something since you don't want to loose your super expensive dragon lord! (I would keep this guy until 3000 points and above).
Tank
To be honest there are not many ways of tanking (holding an enemy up) with Highborn's themselves as we only have toughness 3 and are not known for their high armour. We can however make our units into effective tanks using the Crown of Command granting stubborn to the unit he is in. You can essentially place this character into any unit and they will become very hard to shift (when mounted on a Stag in a unit of treekin for example).
Unit Support
These guys are not really meant to be dealing damage...they have other uses that are arguable more useful!
Battle Standard Bearer
This guy literally has a bubble of awesome following him around. Anyone in this 12" bubble gets rerolls to failed leadership tests which means our army is much harder to break! Whats not to like about that?!?! Having your general within the same radius makes this even better.
Moonstone Users
Certain units benefit greatly from the Moonstone of Hidden Paths...basically it teleports a unit from 1 forest to another...this lets you lay some cunning ambushes and REALLY supports units such as Wild Riders and Wardancers. Something to think about.
Conclusion
These are just some of the ideas you can use when designing your Highborn or Noble, these may not be the best but are my personal favorites when going to battle! Just because Wizards rule the roost doesnt mean we cant use these wonderful units to great effect!
Azeebo
Great blog mate. Keep up the good work !
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